IB History Course Sequence Updates (A rose by any other name…)

“What’s in name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”

– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 1

I hope everyone’s summer is off to a good start. I am enjoying running, playing with my kids, and starting my summer reading list (John Lewis Gaddis’s biography of George Kennan, huzzah!)

I am posting in order to (hopefully) clear up the current confusion about the course sequence due to the new nomenclature on the course request forms. The most important thing to say is that the course sequence is remaining exactly the same. All IB History students will study the IB twentieth century history curriculum during the first year, and the HL students will study the history of the Americas curriculum during the second year. The new course request form and nomenclature has seemingly reversed this sequence, as some of you have pointed out. The reason for this is bureaucratic and has to do with the new application of end of course exams to teacher evaluations. New state rules require that the end of course exam and course name match, hence there will be juniors enrolled in different courses taking the same class together.

In order to alleviate confusion, I will be renaming the classes on my website and blog and on all paperwork. Henceforth, the course will be IB History Year 1 and IB History Year 2. No worries though, as Juliet admonishes us, the rose will still smell as sweet. Year one students will still become obsessed with the problem of peacemaking and peacekeeping and the relative merits of Woodrow Wilson’s idealism vs. Clemenceau’s realism. You will still try not to blow up the world in the annual Cuban Missile Crisis simulation.

Now that I have hopefully cleared everything up, juniors, it’s time to start reading Guns of August.

Extended Essay and Internal Assessment Writers: A Good Guide for Avoiding Passive Voice

Passive voice is the bane of good history writing, but often proves a difficult concept to explain to students.  Mrs. Harrington has just passed on a hilarious help for finding passive voice in your sentences.  Just insert “by zombies” after any verb, and if the sentence makes sense, you have passive voice!

Examples:

“My extended essay first draft was written by zombies.”

“Sorry I’m late, Mr. Harrington.  I was driven to school by zombies.”  Explains a lot.

Junior and Senior IB History Classes: Discussion Materials for Next Week

On Tuesday, 11 September, you will be leading class discussion on the causes of the First World War.  The materials for discussion will include relevant readings in the Gilbert text, the historiography handout I gave you this week, and the linked articles from the BBC listed below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/origins_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/invasion_ww1_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/cousins_at_war_01.shtml

Remember also that the questions on the historiography handout are due on Tuesday as well.

Happy reading!

Updates to Course Website

I have uploaded rubrics to the webpages for all of my courses.  The first homework assignment is now uploaded to the IB Twentieth Century and History of the Americas pages.

Class Website Links

AP and IB History students,

Some students have been having trouble getting to the course website in order to complete the Course Rules and Procedures assignment.  The URL for the course web site is https://sites.google.com/site/mrharringtonsclassroom/.  The Rules and Procedures document is available on the page titled “Classroom Rules and Procedures.”  The website can also be accessed through the Rickards High School Social Studies page: http://www.rickards.leon.k12.fl.us/html/social_studies.html.

 

Guns of August Test and Reading Discussion

Dear Juniors and Seniors,

The reading test on The Guns of August will be administered to all IB history classes on Thursday, 23 August.  The test will consist of your choice of six identification short essays (IDs) and one essay question.  You will be able to choose six out of ten IDs, and one out of two essay questions.  All test items will be based upon the guided reading questions provided on the class blog.

There will be a brief review at the beginning of class tomorrow.  I will distribute sample IDs, and we will discuss major themes of the book.  Study thoughtfully what you have read this summer, as this will be the first serious assessment for the IB history courses.

Guns of August, Chapter 21-Afterword

Barbara Tuchman wraps up her narrative prior to the “Miracle of the Marne.”  She takes the story from the origins of General von Kluck’s ill-timed turn in the face of the French army through General Gallieni’s brilliant organization of the defense of Paris.  Be thinking about Tuchman’s overall thesis, and why she finds the first two months of the First World War, as the fighting was only beginning, to be the most crucial in explaining the course and outcome of the conflict.

Chapter 21

How much discretion did German commanders have to make their own decisions in the field?  What impact did this doctrine have on the German approach to Paris?

What impact did new aviation technology have upon the course of the war on the Western Front in 1914?

Chapter 22

What were the long term effects of Joffre’s relief of seemingly ineffective generals?

How were the French able to coordinate a defense of Paris?

Afterword

How does Tuchman explain the “Miracle of the Marne?”

How did the failure of the war plans of both sides effect the course of the First World War?

Why does Barbara Tuchman say that the battles of August 1914 laid a “trap from which there was, and has been, no exit?”  Is she implying that the First World War is still with us?  If so, how might this be true.

Guns of August, Chapters 19-20

This section covers the retreat of Allied forces toward Paris, and the civil-military debate over the feasibility of defending the French capital.  Be careful not to get bogged down in the Roman numerals of army corps and generals’ names.  Look instead at overall themes, such as civil versus military command of France’s armed forces, and the purely strategic versus cultural and political concerns wrapped up in the question of defending Paris.    As the French and British fall back, note the further deviations the Germans make from the original Schlieffen Plan.    At the same time, pay attention to the roles played by two very important French commanders, General Joseph-Simon Gallieni and General Joseph Joffre.

Chapter 19

What challenges did General Gallieni face when tasked with the defense of Paris?

What were Sir John French’s strategic priorities at this stage of the fighting?  How did these affect the BEF’s cooperation with its French allies?

Chapter 20

What was General Gallieni’s plan to defend Paris?  How did he implement it?

What were General Joffre’s strengths in leading the French Army during the retreat from the German offensive?

What debate existed, and among whom, over the decision to defend Paris?

Guns of August, Chapters 17-18

Here we see a chapter on Belgium and a chapter on naval policy and strategy and the role of the “Great Neutral,” the United States.  The two topics are related, in that they are both areas in which Germany made serious miscalculations that would later cost her the war.  The first chapter in the section treats with the controversial issue of German atrocities in Belgium.  The Allies exaggerated these in their propaganda to the point that in the classroom and popular culture we lose sight of the fact that reprisals indeed happened.  Tuchman explores the reasons for the use of terror tactics, known as Schrecklichkeit, and the manner in which they backfired on Germany.  In the next chapter, we look at one of the great ironies of the First World War.  The German naval buildup was recognized at the time and afterward by historians as a long term cause of the war.  If this is true, why did the Kaiser insist upon a navy, and then refuse to use it?  The naval policies and strategies of the belligerents would have a huge impact on the war due to their impact on American neutrality.

Chapter 17

What was the purpose of the German use of terror, or Schrecklichkeit, in Belgium?

Why were German commanders and soldiers so concerned about supposed Belgian violations of international law, but not their own invasion of neutral Belgium?

What were the long term consequences of German reprisals in Belgium?

Chapter 18

What was the impact in Anglo-German relations of the German naval buildup prior to the war?  Why did Kaiser Wilhelm II insist on a navy?

What was German naval policy following the outbreak of the First World War?  What was the reasoning behind it?

What was “continuous voyage,” and why would that doctrine have an impact on neutrals?

Why did Woodrow Wilson want the United States to remain neutral?

Guns of August, Chapters 15-16

Our attention now turns toward the Eastern Front with two chapters on the Russian offensive into East Prussia.  France depended upon her alliance with Russia and a Russian offensive into the strategically and symbolically important region of East Prussia.  German strategy depended upon a quick victory over France before Russia was able to mobilize.  What the Germans did not expect was Russia’s unwillingness to abide by a German schedule, and the “Russian steamroller” was set in motion before expected.  The results would be decisive, not least in the rise of the team that would wield de facto rule over Germany by the end of the war, Paul von Hindenberg and Erich Ludendorff (prior to his less-than-heroic role in the Beer Hall Putsch.)

Chapter 15

Why was Russian participation on the Eastern Front essential to the Allies?

What was the Russian war plan?  What were the weaknesses of the Russian Army going on the offensive?

Chapter 16

What changes took place in the German command on the eastern front, and with what consequences?

What did the outcome of the Battle of Tannenberg signify?